


Trust of Silence

by synopsis



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bucky Barnes Feels, Explosions, F/M, Jemma Simmons-centric, Mild Gore, Missions going wrong, Protective Bucky Barnes, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 05:23:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6740056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synopsis/pseuds/synopsis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James speaks to no one outside of Steve Rogers. The first time Jemma hears him speak, she's dying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> This was a plot bunny that has been bouncing around in my head for the last few weeks. I finally decided to write it, rather than pay attention to my professor's lecture. Quickly written, and unbeta'ed so all mistakes are mine.

The first time she met James Buchanan Barnes, he was brought to her by Captain Rogers, and she interacted with the Winter Solider on a regular basis. But he never spoke a word to her, or seemingly anyone beside Steve; he would not even speak to the captain if there was anyone else in the room. 

The first time Jemma met Bucky he wouldn’t meet her eye; he simply sat on the exam table that had been brought into her lab, metal arm held away from him, and waited patiently for her to finish examining him. It wasn’t until she had brought Fitz in to repair his Barnes’ arm, a month later, that he made eye contact--silently pleading to not let Fitz near him, his body tense with fear. She had Fitz walk her through the process, with the assistance of a surgery camera to display what she was seeing to Fitz outside of the lab. She started calling him James. 

After that day, Simmons would always repair any damange to James’ arm with the verbal guidence of Fitz. Jemma would keep up a littany of one-sided conversation, telling James about her day, her week, the latest office gossip that she swore she didn’t participate in, and sometimes snippets of her life. She alluded to Ward’s betrayal, finding it interesting to see Jame’s flesh hand curl into a fist. Over time she told him the story about being trapped on the alien planet, how she still will wake up terrified she was still stuck in that grey world. 

She began to learn to read his body language, his meaning in his eyes, when he was in her lab. She never heard of him opening up to any besides Steve, and after what he had been through, she wasn’t surprised James wouldn’t speak. But Jemma and James created their own language, there in her lab. Jemma began to treasure those moments in her lab, though she was loath to see him injured in his work with Steve. 

He never uttered a single word, but with Jemma he didn’t need to. 

______

 

The first time James spoke to her, Jemma was dying.

It was supposed to be an easy grab-and-go mission; alien tech needing to be retrieved by someone who knew what they were handling. According to intel, the warehouse had been abandonded for weeks, and the thick layer of dust in the building attested to that. She walked confidently to the office on the upper floors, while May, and the rest of the team swept the perimeter. The tech looked dead, as if it had run out of energy and had been abandoned haphazardly on the broken desk that remained in the dark office. 

She had no issue packing it in the case designed for such use and was about to inform the team she was on her way out when an explosion blew the inner office wall and threw her to the floor. Pieces of glass, wood, and twisted metal rained down on Jemma. She couldn’t focus on anything other than the pain, and that oddly it was brighter in the office now. 

She couldn’t hear her team in her ear and she worried about them, staunchly ignoring the blood under her hands. She raised her head up, looking for the new source of light and saw that the explosion took out most of the outside wall. Good, maybe they could get to her if she just laid her head down and waited. 

“Jemma!” An unfamilar rough voice held back the growing darkness.

“Here.” Her voice came out more as a croak. 

“Jemma! You need to listen to me.” The voice sounded so far away, coming in with the sunlight. “We can’t get to you. The building is barely holding itself together, and what is left is on fire. Are you with me, Jemma?”

Jemma felt fear spike through her, she couldn’t move. She felt the piece of rebar through her left thigh, the glass embedded in her shoulders. “I can’t . . . “ she whisped to the voice, broken.

“Jemma, I can talk you through it. Just like you talked me through all of our lab exams.” The voice was smooth, but urgent.

“James?” 

“That’s right. Now tell me what your situation is in there. Your comm is still sending your messages, and I’m just outside.”

She closed her eyes, laying her head against the floor, telling him what she knew of her injuries. 

“Jemma, listen to me. You have to try. If you can drag yourself to the gap, I can get you out. But I can’t get up there without killing you, but you have to hurry.”

“It hurts, James.” Jemma’s body thrummed with adrinalin and pain. 

“I know it does. And it’s going to hurt a lot more when you move, but you have to do this.”

Jemma picked her head back up, slowly stretching her scuffed hands infront of her. A scream tore ragged from her throat as she pulled herself closer to the hole blasted in the wall. The rebar scraping on the debris as she pulled herself out from under them. James’ voice kept spilling through the wall, growing louder as she got closer. Her slender fingers, now bloodied and nails torn, reached the open space. 

“That’s it, Jemma, you’re right there.” James kept up. “Now, this is the next step, but you’ve gotta stay with me. Are you with me, Jemma?”

Jemma could hardly see the light right in front of her, her vision swimming.

“Jemma!”

“What now?” The whispered question came out of her. 

“I need you to trust me.” James’ voice was just beneath her. She pulled herself closer, left leg still dragging useless, and peered over the edge. 

There he was, twenty or so feet below her, just as he promised. Sun reflecting off where his metal arm was exposed through tears in his uniforms’ sleeve. His long hair hung ragged, falling out of the tie he wears on missions, his dark eyes meeting hers. 

“Do you trust me, Jemma?”

“Yes.” 

She watched him duck his head away for a moment before looking back at her. 

“You’re dying, Jemma. You’ve lost too much blood, and I can’t come up there and get you.” The detached part of her brain told her that his voice was ragged, that he sounded afraid.

“So what do I do?” She bit her lips, trying to hold back the tears forming. 

“I need you to let yourself fall.”

A sob tore out of Jemma, past her clenched teeth.

“You need to trust that I will catch you, Jemma. And you need to do it now.”

Jemma squeezed her eyes close, and began to lever herself over the ledge. 

She lost herself to the darkness, her strength failing just as she felt the sensation of falling. 

______

 

Jemma woke in a white room, the soft whizzing and beeps of medical machines, and saw the dark figure hunched beside her bed, eyes on her face. 

James brought his warm hand up to cup against her face, silent once more. He glanced at her lips briefly, and then back to her eyes. She gave him a soft smile, understanding his question.

Very carefully, James pressed his lips against Jemma's.

**Author's Note:**

> I would love to know what you think about this!
> 
> Find me on tumblr, my name is ladysynopsis !


End file.
